


And Their Feet Move

by mermaidforeachother



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, Established Relationship, F/F, Haruka is a Naiad, Makoto is a Dryad, Nymphs & Dryads, they are madly in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 00:15:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3401375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mermaidforeachother/pseuds/mermaidforeachother
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Vernal season brings about many reunions as the frost falls away from the Earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Their Feet Move

**Author's Note:**

> And their feet move  
> rhythmically, as tender  
> feet of Cretan girls  
> danced once around an 
> 
> altar of love, crushing  
> a circle in the soft  
> smooth flowering grass -Sappho

       Spring. The wind blows by in a gentle breeze, caressing a great oak tree as it winds through the new leaves and sturdy branches, rustling them as it passes. It winds down from the oak and skims the surface of a large creek, flowing sedately along its path close to the tree, waters high and cold from the melted snow and spring showers which have been falling generously this year.

 It's been as long of a winter as it always has been since the Lady Persephone became Queen of the Underworld. During the barren months,  it is cold, it is harsh, and it is lonely,  but it makes you think of those whom you love most, just as the Harvest Goddess does every day during her daughter's absence from the world of the living. Now, she is home. Now, life unfurls once more.

It is warm and it is sunny, Apollo steering his chariot steadily through the heavens. It's a day for lovers. Birds are already flocking back to the forest, making their nests and practicing their singing in preparation for the upcoming mating season.

The great oak next to the creek shivers with no wind to shake it's regal branches. 

The creek's waters ripple with not a splash to cause it.  

Onto the gnarled and twisted roots of the tree, steps a bare foot, clean and smooth. Its pair lightly touches the moss covered ground between the roots, feeling the soft velvet cushion of the lichen tickle like a whisper, testing, hesitantly,  the once frozen earth, searching for the warmth of life that Demeter has renewed. 

Slowly, a hand emerges, palm wide and fingers long and sturdy, but smooth still as much as the feet. Out from the Great Oak, appears a woman,  tall and strong, clad in a trailing dress of green in shades reminiscent of forest leaves and meadow grasses swaying in the wind. Her hair is long and brown, as twisted and intertwined as branches could ever be. Part of her hair, in fact, is held atop her head by oak twigs, some leaves still clinging and green, showing no signs of wilting that broken twigs often do.

She steps carefully over her roots, to the bank of the creek which slopes down in a drastic hill, and waits, patiently staring at the slow current bubbling over the smooth stones of the creek bed, water clear enough to see to the bottom.

The creek's waters ripple with not a splash to cause it. The minnows scatter frantically, making way for something greater than they. A head rises slowly from the water, first, a large pink water lily, blossoming, then smooth, shiny black hair, slick from the water. The face is that of a woman's,  with delicate features yet serious eyes. As she rises from the water, she is frowning. For all of the warmth of spring, it is yet still early, and she and her creek are chillier than she cares for, still shaking off the last vestiges of a long and icy winter.

She glances up onto her banks, gazing at the figure waiting for her, drenched in sunshine and the light of her own smile. The sight of her, patient, yet giddy, leaves rustling in anticipation,  brings a smile to the naiad's face. 

The woman on the bank kneels down onto one knee, dress skirt draping over her roots, giving the impression of a blanket of grass covering them. She leans forward,  down the hill, as she extends a hand slowly, becomingly, beckoning the spirit of the creek closer with just a hand and a smile, green eyes soft and kind.

The naiad's expression softens, seeing the dryad's invitation. She lifts one of her feet from the water and places it carefully onto a rock jutting out from the creek just before the bank begins to raise upward. She shifts her arms, the sleeves of her dress draped freely, attached only by circlets on her arms and wrists. Reaching towards the dryad, she smiles softly, and places one of her hands into the other's. 

"Makoto." she croons. Makoto grips her hand firmly and helps her to climb out of her creek and onto the hill of the bank. The naiad's blue dress flutters softly behind her, the end still floating carelessly in the stream,  though the rest of her clothing is dry and airy, flowing in the air as the currents of her creek flow through its course. She stands in front of Makoto,  and lifts her warm hand to her face, closing her eyes and nuzzling into it comfortingly. "I missed you."

Makoto cups the naiad's cheek, thumb brushing against it soothingly. 

"Haruka," she whispers reverently, "I missed you too.." 

Makoto smiles ruefully,  "Your creek froze."

Haruka exhales deeply,  tired, but enduring. 

"It always does, and it thawed. Your leaves fell." she states, plainly.

"They always do." Makoto replies. 

"And yet you still grow?" Haruka asks, somewhat teasingly. 

"So do you."

The naiad looks at the ground, the moss looks slightly more lively with the two of them standing on it.

"Not like you, I don't.  You grow tall and you grow strong. Makoto shelters birds and squirrels and all manner of warm, lively, things. I can be so cold, even to my own tenants"

Makoto shakes her head, as if to call the other woman foolish, and leans down, softly pecking Haruka on the lips before telling her,

"Your waters help me grow. Your love is that which keeps me warm when the Earth is cursed. Those that you shelter revel in your cool stream, and all of my creatures live because you nurture them as well."

Makoto wraps her arms around Haruka,  and they sink to the ground together, half leaning on one another, half resting against a large outcropping of Makoto's roots.

Haruka turns her head towards the dryad, and cupping the back of her head, hand tangled immeasurably in her hair, kisses Makoto deeply, lips as gentle and cool to the touch as her stream. They break apart, and Haruka leans her head against Makoto's shoulder, listening to her steady breathing and the comforting sound of their hearts once more beating in synch, away from the cold loneliness of winter where they were too weak to be together as they are now.

"I missed you." Haruka repeats.

"I love you." is Makoto's reply.

"I love you, too."

"I know, Haruka, I know." And she raises her hand to tenderly stroke Haruka's hair, comforting them both after their long separation. 

Reunited, the lovers drift off to the joyful warbling of birds hard at work building nests, the crooning whispers of Makoto's leaves shifting and rustling in the wind, and Haruka's creek, babbling and flowing gently over and around any obstacles, just as their love too, does.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
